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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682624">The Cerberus of the Baskervilles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unbreakable_Vow/pseuds/Unbreakable_Vow'>Unbreakable_Vow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(but not really), Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Pining Harry, Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:21:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,496</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unbreakable_Vow/pseuds/Unbreakable_Vow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Baskerville family is cursed: every male member, when inheriting their very large fortune, is going to be torn to pieces by a Cerberus. With one last member of the family still alive, James Mortimer asks the help of the savior of the Wizarding World to protect the love of his life’s only son: Henry Baskerville.</p><p>A get-together story with a side of mystery</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Rolf Scamander, past!James Mortimer/Charles Baskerville</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Before the Spring Snaps: The Classics</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Cerberus of the Baskervilles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">



        <li>In response to a prompt by
            Anonymous in the <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/BTSS2020">BTSS2020</a>
          collection.
        </li>
    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><strong>Prompt:</strong> Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (Sherlock Holmes). It's a new adaptation of the famous novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles"</p><p> <br/>James Mortimer, Charles Baskerville, Henry Baskerville, and Beryl Garcia (widely known as Stapleton), while maintaining their original names, are nothing like the characters from the book. The same goes for Chiara Lobosca: I haven’t played Hogwarts Mystery yet, so all information on her come from the wiki or are totally invented. You can consider them all OCs.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Harry walks the corridor for the Minister of Magic’s office in silence.</p><p>Around him there’s chaos: everyone goes and comes from different departments, letters and memos fly from a room to another. There’ a buzzing activity of the civilians aiming to resolve a dispute or other bureaucratic matters, a constant background soft noise.</p><p>Harry, on most days, finds all this frenzy comforting. It’s been ten years, but the deafening silence of the aftermath of the war and of the big funeral ceremony still haunt his dreams, and it reminds him that this activity, this expression of life, it’s what he’s been fighting for since he was just a boy. That the war was won so people could live in peace and worry about normal, ordinary things, instead of being always afraid that someone they care about could be killed at any moment.</p><p>Today, instead of helping him, it only itches him. He would love to hear silence, to be able to think, to not be so confused as he feels right now. Instead, he’s heard the noise all morning, and it didn’t help him to make a wise decision, at least not the rushed one he’s taken in the end. The one that’s making him going to Kingsley’s office to ask leave from his work to go and do something that he probably shouldn’t, but that he cannot say no to.</p><p>He can’t because the letter he received yesterday morning from James Mortimer squeezed his heart, the heartbreak and the pain so strong and so well known to him that he honestly cannot let it go without doing anything he can to help him. He’s used to receiving many letters, even emotional as this one is, but this one reasoned with him because it hit too close to home.</p><p><em> Your heart really is too big Harry, </em>Hermione always says to him, and boy, isn’t she right.</p><p>He knocks at Kingsley’s office and waits, and it takes only a few seconds before Kingsley’s shout of “Enter!” gives him the magical permission to open the door without losing a few of his limbs.</p><p>Kingsley, who already knew it was Harry - he wouldn’t have given him the permission otherwise - gestures for him to take a seat, not lifting his face for the document he’s reading. Harry has no idea what’s written on it - it’s a new security measure from the new Minister: only him can read his documents, if anyone else tries they’re hit by a confundus charm who would make the words appear like a straight line - but judging by Kingsley’s expression it must not be good.</p><p>“I swear they write gibberish on purpose on those documents,” Kingsley complains, showing the sheet aside in an annoyed gesture. “Anyway, is everything alright?”</p><p> “Yes,” Harry answers, immensely grateful for Kingsley’s inclination to go straight to the point. “Nothing to report.”</p><p>“Then what is it?”</p><p>“I want to ask for a leave from work.”</p><p>Kingsley’s eyebrow shot up in his forehead. Harry notices from the corner of his eyes than even the portrait of Ulick Gamp, usually pretty happy to mind his own business to only send messages to the muggle prime minister, looks at him with surprise.</p><p>“For how long?” Kingsley asks.</p><p>“I don’t know,” he says truthfully. “I hope only two weeks, but it might take longer than that.”</p><p>“And what, in Merlin’s name, do you need two weeks for?”</p><p>Harry understands Kingsley’s surprise, he really does - he’s never taken a leave from work before. They’ve also known each other from way back to the war, so Kingsley knows that Harry is nothing but dedicated to his job. Bu answering Kingsley question would only dig deeper in the hole of uncertain and doubt that has been opened in his mind when he’d first read the letter, the sentence <em> I beg of you to come to our aid </em>going through his mind over and over, until he had decided, just a few minutes ago, to accept the request.</p><p><em> He asked me, </em> James Mortimer had said in his letter, <em> to care for Henry for all his life, as I would do with my own child. </em></p><p>And that’s what really is about, isn’t it? A promise to protect the son of a beloved person, who had died in a tragic circumstance a few years back? Yeah, his heart is too big, but he’s also an idiot who can’t help but empathize a bit too much with this story. He sees <em>himself</em> in the boy who’s in danger and sees many people in James’ shoes - Sirius, Remus, even Dumbledore - but most of all he sees <em>Snape</em>. Even if he’s pretty sure Snape would have never used words so full of love to describe him - this awareness used to hurt him when he first learned about his promise to protect Harry, but he’s had years to come to peace with it, and understand that he couldn’t have done anything different for making the man like him more when he was a student. </p><p>He still feels conflicting emotions now, years after his death, and he misses him as much as you can miss an idea of what a person could have been to you more than the relationship you really had with them, but <em>him </em>nonetheless, bravery and cruelty and everything else that made him the man he was.</p><p>“I can’t tell you,” Harry says, knowing that Kingsley will not be pleased by his answer, but having no choice. “I was asked to maintain the secret, and I will.”</p><p>“You do realize that asking for two weeks’ leave from work without an explanation isn’t going to cut it, do you?”</p><p>“I know how much I’m asking, Kingsley,” Harry almost begs, “but you know me. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t important.”</p><p>“Is there another Dark Lord you’ve been destined to fight against?”</p><p>“No,” he snorts, understanding the implication behind his question. “I wouldn’t do <em> that </em>alone again,” he answers, and it’s the truth. Age and a big lapse of time from his teenage years has made him realize how little he’s ever relied on others, and almost never to adults (who, in his defense, were at large completely incompetent), to help him in his quest against Voldemort. With the mentality he has now, many things that he had done alone, or with only Ron and Hermione, would have been completely different.</p><p>“But still, you won’t tell me anything about why you’re missing work for the next two weeks on some secret mission,” Kingsley sighs.</p><p>He doesn’t bother to ask <em> Why do you think it’s a mission?  </em>because both he and Kingsley know that question would be pointless. Of course it’s a mission. “I can’t.”</p><p>“Harry, I want to help you, but you have to tell me something at least,” Kingsley says gently. “I can’t show favoritism, not even for the Saviour. It doesn’t have to be much, I understand you’ve been sworn to secrecy, just a few key points will suffice.”</p><p>Harry debates to himself, clearly torn, before admitting defeat. “A boy is in danger,” he answers, “for a family curse. He lives in Canada, but he’s moving back to England, and I’m going to try and help him break the curse.”</p><p>“Is this boy so important to you?”</p><p>“To me? No,” he answers, and looks at Kingsley not really seeing him, but the nasty potion master who’s protected him as much as he could for all his life. “But for someone else? He’s their whole world.”</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>That night Harry goes to Hermione and Ron’s place to have dinner with them, something that happens almost every day. They live near Harry’s apartment in Muggle London, a walking distance to the telephone box that grants access to the Ministry: they’ve chosen that part of London mostly because of Harry and Hermione’s schedule. Ron works in the joke shop with George, so he’s the one who has a regular schedule, as well as who usually cooks dinner. Harry and Hermione could practically live full time at the Ministry for how much time they spend there. He’s almost a Head Auror, and Hermione is working her way up in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, right now almost to the point of becoming second-in-command after the Head of the department, Gethsemane Prickle.</p><p>Plus, Ron’s the one who cooks because everything he makes is delicious.</p><p>He’s thinking about it now, after returning from work and taking a quick shower, how shouldn’t indulge in spending so much time with them. Hermione and Ron are a couple, and they should have some time alone, not having to be with someone else all the time - mostly Harry, but also Ron’s family or their friends from school. They’ve never complained about it, and he knows his friends enough to know that if they’d been troubled by that, they would have said something. However he can’t help but feel guilty every time he meets Hermione for lunch - or, when they can’t, seeing a memo fly to his desk - and she describes tonight's dinner like he’s a given that Harry will be with them.</p><p>He feels guilty because, for Harry, those dinners are not just for Ron’s cooking and the pleasure to be with his best friends. It kills him to not saying anything and allow them to think that Harry is just a very close friend and doesn’t feel anything more from them.</p><p>He can’t say anything, because he doesn’t want to lose their friendship and the special connection they have. He argues with his conscience saying that what they don’t know can’t harm them, especially since with telling them what he feels he risks not only their friendship but his job as well. He will just have to cherish those moments in the privacy of his mind, fantasizing about having them both as <em> his </em>. it’s all fine: it’s only his problem, and not theirs.</p><p>Of course it’s never enough.</p><p>With a guilty conscience, something that he’s used to by now, he knocks on their door. Fortunately, today some of his conscience can be assuaged by the fact that he has something really important to say to them.</p><p>Hermione opens the door, a smile on her face. Before Harry can realize it he’s being pushed inside the living room, while Hermione makes her way into the kitchen in order to give him a glass of red wine.</p><p>“Ron has really outdone himself,” she says after giving Harry his glass and begins to set up the table. “There’s treacle pudding from dessert.”</p><p>“Molly’s recipe?” Harry asks happily. He loves that pudding, and the one made my Molly Weasley is the best he’s ever had.</p><p>“‘Mione!” Ron yells from the kitchen, evidently annoyed. “It was supposed to be a surprise!”</p><p>“Surprise?” Harry asks, confused. “There’s some holiday I’ve forgotten?”</p><p>“Sorry!” Hermione yells at Ron, then she addresses Harry. “No, no holiday… We just noticed that yesterday you seemed a bit off. Ron just wanted to make something to cheer you up.”</p><p>“Stop spilling the beans, Hermione!” Ron says coming from the kitchen, wearing the apron that Harry once gifted to him and Molly as a joke. “You’re the worst, seriously.”</p><p>“Can’t I say that you’re doing something nice for Harry?” she teases him. “It’s a good thing!”</p><p>Ron mutters something that sounds suspiciously like a treat to Hermione, then looks at Harry with a smile on his face. “Sorry Harry, Hermione’s really going for the embarrassing-Ron tactic.”</p><p>“And it’s working,” she says winking at them, and Harry, who’s been speechless since the two started bickering, finally retrieves himself for the shock he’s been put into.</p><p>He shouldn’t be so surprised that Hermione and Ron do something nice for him, they always have. Even with their ups and downs, their friendship has always been like that. With Hermione’s determination to do the right thing even if doing that made him angry - like the firebolt incident in their third year - and Ron’s casual display of affection - like the time he convinced the twins to ride to Privet Drive because he hadn’t heard from Harry all summer - they have always been good friends, ready to help him if he felt down or something went wrong, which, yeah, happened a lot in his youth.</p><p>But every time something like that happens he feels his heart is going to combust. He can’t help it. He cares about those two people more than his life, he would die for them - and already did - and would give everything for a chance to be their boyfriend. To show them how really important they are for him more than friendship boundaries can really permit, even one as close as theirs.</p><p>But he can’t, and episodes like this one really get him, leaving him with the bittersweet awareness that they love him, only not in the way he wants to.</p><p>“Guys... Thank you,” he says, a lump ins his throat. “You shouldn’t have.”</p><p>“No problem mate,” Ron says, patting Harry on the shoulder. “You seem better now.”</p><p>“I am,” he says truthfully. “I didn’t realize I was so obvious yesterday. I’m sorry for making you worry.”</p><p>“There’s no need to be sorry,” Hermione says affectionately. “We care about you. Now, what is it? Trouble at work?”</p><p>He doesn’t think <em> I wish </em>only because the only ‘trouble at work’ that makes him so upset are usually murderers and bad criminals. But this is a close second.</p><p>“Not exactly,” he answers. “But let’s not talk about it right now. Later, ok? I want to know about your day more.”</p><p>Hermione and Ron share an unconvincing look, but they fortunately grant him his request. </p><p>During the dinner, Hermione talks about the problem she’s facing with the renewal relationship negotiations document with the Centaurs. Ron laments about a Peace Disturber that a customer activated in the shop, giving him and George a hell of a headache trying to contain the butterfly effect the explosion had had on many other items on the shop.</p><p>“George was laughing his ass off the entire time!” he says at one point, making Harry laugh even more. “Angelina really is a saint.”</p><p>“Or batshit crazy,” Hermione adds, the light tone of her voice denying the harsh meaning of her words. </p><p>“Many people could say the same about you, y’know?” Ron jokes, and when Harry adds “And they would be totally right!” </p><p>Both he and Ron snicker at Hermione’s shocked expression.</p><p>“It’s two against one, not fair at all,” she says mock offended.</p><p>They continue with the same tone until the end of the dinner. Harry loves that atmosphere, the easy laugh and companionship, and would give anything for evenings like this one to never end.</p><p>“So, Harry, are you finally going to confess what was bothering you yesterday?” Hermione asks after they’ve finished eating. </p><p>There’s no way he’s going to evade the question now. “I received a letter yesterday,” he starts nervously. “And I was thinking about it yesterday evening. If I should accept or not.”</p><p>“Accept what?” Hermione asks.</p><p> “It’s… you know what? It’s easier if I read it to you.”</p><p>He accioes the letter from his coat pocket, and in front of an attentive Ron and Hermione, he starts read James Mortimer’s story. </p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Dear Harry Potter, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I’m sure you must receive many letters, even after a decade from the defeat of the Dark Lord, with requests for help. Still, I hope you will give this letter more than a passing glance, because I cry for your help with all the heart that remains in me after my dear Charles passed away, many years ago. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Before dwelling in the matter at hand, I beg of you to not reveal the content of this letter to anyone who would broadcast this story to the public eye, even in the case you decide to decline my request for help. I think the best approach to this unpleasant matter is to be discreet about it, since it’s a dark family issue that should be treated carefully. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> My name is James Mortimer. I’ve been raised in Canada, but I was born in France, and I was only five years old when my family fled from the country in fear of Grindelwald’ terror - he was at the time at the beginning of his rise to power, but a force to be reckoned with nonetheless. In Canada, I’ve lived far from war and misery, and I was happy living a peaceful if slightly boring life. However, everything changed the day I met Charles Baskerville, the other half of my soul, and fell completely in love with him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Charles was from an English family that had fled the country from a family curse. At the time I knew no more than that, and since James was obviously displeased every time the subject came up in our conversation, I was more than happy to let it be. It didn’t matter to me anyway, because I loved him, with all the force of the first love and youth. In my mind, nothing could have ever convinced me to think less of that wonderful man, because, you see, Charles was perfect in my eyes: joyful, adventurous, brave, full of life.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I won’t bore you with tales of his deeds, even if just thinking about them brings joy to my heart second only to thoughts of his son. And that’s why I’m writing to you, Harry Potter. I need protection for Henry Charles Baskerville, his beautiful boy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The wizarding world today is a more accepting place for people like me. At the time the public opinion of us, colored no doubt by Grindelwald’s inclinations towards partners of the same sex, had considered us disfits. Charles’ family was particularly hostile in that regard, so much that Charles, in fear of our secret love being discovered, broken up our relationship and married a much older but wealthy woman. I knew that for her he could feel no love, since he wasn’t so inclined, but as you can no doubt imagine, that time was a difficult one for me. Charles was the love of my life, and seeing him kiss and smile at his lawful wife in the occasions in which many wealthy families usually gather, always put a fresh wound in my heart.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> All of that changed when his wife died of a very aggressive form of Cerebrumous Spattergroit, a lethal malady for a woman way into the last stage of her life. I considered it an unlucky but understandable illness, and I’m ashamed to say that I also felt relieved by her sudden departure. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> But Charles didn’t see it like that: he was convinced that his wife had died because of some irrational side-effect of his family curse, something that I and many others tried to convince him could not be possible, but in vain. It soon became a point of conflict in many of our conversations, so strained already from the feeling we still held for each other.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I also worried about the effect that his obsession was having on his son, at the time barely six years old, who had already seen one parent die and was slowly losing the other one to madness. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> As much as I hated seeing Charles with his wife, I confess that I’ve loved little Henry since the first time I’ve put my eyes on him. Henry had taken much of his father’s looks, barely resembling his mother, and was as curious and intelligent as his father had been. I was made honorary uncle because Henry had taken a liking to me as I had to him, and we spent a lot of time together. So you can see why I worried for him, that brilliant and poor boy, and went even against Charles to guarantee his growth and happiness. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Something of my concern must have penetrated Charles’ mind, already lost to fear and paranoia, because the decision he took was to spare his son for everything that was happening to him. I will never forget the day when he bargained in my home and asked for my help, a light in his eyes that spoke of fever madness. He asked me to adopt his son formally, to care for Henry for all his life as I would do with my own child. He was returning to England with his parents to break the family curse, in order to give Henry a future without this heavy burden that every male member of his family had had. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It was only that day that I learned the whole curse, and what it meant for the Baskerville family. Writing the entire story would take more paper that this letter should be made of - already I fear that I’ve bored you, blathering about my beloved Charles. However, to put it in just a few words, the curse acts upon every male member of the family when they decide to access the family extensive fortune. This fortune has been obtained, the legend says, by bloodshed and acts so vile I won’t hazard to put them into paper, and that’s why it’s cursed. After just a few months, without any possible explanation, that family member disappears, never to be seen again. No one knows what really happens to them, but the legend talks about a big Cerberus who’s been condemned by one of the family victims to brutally kill any Baskerville who tries to benefit from a wealth obtained with death and innocent blood.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The wizarding world is still wrapped in mystery for many of its subjects - we still debate to the exact nature of magic, to what really differentiates us from no-maj - but even the most imaginative of us would be hard-pressed to trust a story like this one. Charles was a practical man, not one to lose himself in fantasies and daydreaming, and yet his wife’s death had stunned him to the point that he believed the legend to be completely true.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Charles and his parents left Canada, leaving me with his son, nine years ago. To this day I still don’t know what happened there, but after a few months he stopped writing to me, and he and his parents have all but disappear from this earth. I didn’t rest for a year, sending Aurors to look for them in every place Charles had mentioned in his letters, but it was all in vain. After a year, I stopped searching for them, because I had Henry to take care of, and I couldn’t lose myself in mourning the love of my life, who’d died on the other side of the world. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Henry’s now fifteen, a bright and brave boy. He has only recently learned of his family and the curse, and he’s decided to come to England to unravel his father’s mysterious death and the Baskerville curse. I fear for him, and I must confess that this fear had made me, a skeptic wizard, believe in the impossible existence of the cursed Cerberus.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I beg of you to come to our aid. Henry and I are going to come to England as soon as Ilvermorny closes for the summer break, first in London to visit the city - my suggestion to Henry, in hope to catch you there and talk in person - and then in the moors of Dartmoor, in Devon, when the Baskerville manor resides.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Henry’s everything I’ve left after Charles’ death my heart broke to the point of no recovery. I care for him more than words can express. I’ve tried everything I can to stop him from doing this, but he’s just as stubborn as his father was - something that I condemn as much as I cherish in him - and knowing that you will be with us in this matter would put my heart in a more placid state. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’ve done so much from the wizarding world, Harry Potter. I doubt anyone will ever be able to thank you properly for freeing it from who would have wished war and death upon it. Still, I dare to ask more of you, more than I can possibly repay, because a desperate father would do anything to protect his son from what wants to harm him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> With my deepest gratitude, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> James Mortimer. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>“Wow,” is Ron’s first word after Harry has stopped reading, his expression shocked. “That’s…”</p><p>“Intense,” Hermione supplies for him, with the same expression on her face.</p><p>“Exactly. I mean, it sounds like a story from a book,” Ron continues.</p><p>“I would say it’s unbelievable, but with the lives we live, that word has really lost its meaning.” Hermione comments. “Well,” she adds as an afterthought, “except for Luna’s creatures.”</p><p>“You should give Luna more credit, Hermione,” Harry says to her, feeling a wave of protectiveness of Luna, especially when Hermione discredits her work, even if he doesn’t believe much in it himself. “Some of her discoveries were actually important.”</p><p>“Harry’s right,” Ron says to her. “She turned out to be a good magizoologist after all.”</p><p>“I know, do I need to remind both of you, that I was the one to add the Heliopath in the ministry’s list of magical beasts?” Hermione says to them, an unimpressed look on her face. “Still can’t believe Luna found it.”</p><p>“I remember the two of you bickering over it at the Hog’s Head when we were teenagers,” Harry says fondly. “We were, what, fifteen?”</p><p>“It was the day we founded Dumbledore’s Army, wasn’t it?” Ron chimes. “Blimey, it feels like a lifetime ago.”</p><p>“It was a lifetime ago,” Harry comments. Then, because he can’t help himself, he adds “especially for me.”</p><p>“Really? Jokes about your death?” Ron snickers.</p><p>“And they say you’re the funny one,” Harry shots back</p><p>“Guys!” Hermione interrupts them. “We’re getting out of topic here. Harry, the letter. What does that mean? You’re going to accept?”</p><p>Harry has a moment of shock, realizing how he got so out of track, and judging by Ron’s expression he’s feeling the same thing. </p><p>Hermione, on the other hand, is looking at him intently, like she always did when she quizzed him and Ron before a test when they were at school.</p><p><em> It’s a pity I’ll give the wrong answers, </em>he thinks. “Yes,” he says, and as soon as the word leaves him mouth he readies himself for the scolding of Hermione, and Ron’s quiet support of her. </p><p>He can almost shape her argument in his mind: <em> it’s not your job to save everyone, Harry. Stop and think about it for a second: real or not, there’s a threat to that boy’s life. It’s the Aurors’ job to look after him, not just you. Why don’t you involve Kingsley in it? Give the boy a team of Aurors! Or better, investigate the curse while convincing the boy and his father to not come here? </em></p><p>Harry has already thought about all of it, and he’s ready to counter out her arguments. First of all, because James has asked for his help specifically, and secondly, because James had already involved the Aurors a few years ago, but the search for Charles had been fruitless. </p><p>Besides, he knows his department by now: many of his colleagues would be spooked by the story and refuse the job. Harry has a long time ago accepted that the average wizard is more inclined to believe in strange things rather than think critically, his life being an example of that.</p><p>He’s ready for the questions, but nothing happens. Hermione just looks at him, sadly, and says “Is there anything I can say to you that would convince you to give it up?”</p><p>“No, there isn’t,” Harry answers, glad that part of the conversation had been avoided. “I’ve made my mind. I’ll help them.”</p><p>“Well,” Ron comments, “here goes my paid time off at the shop. George will be thrilled that I’ll work for the rest of the summer.”</p><p>“And I’ll have to talk with Prickle about it, but I’m sure she’ll give her blessing. Especially If I tell her about the Cerberus,” Hermione muses. “One who allegedly lives in Devon, tied to a family curse -”</p><p>“You can’t tell her Hermione! Mortimer asked to not take it to the press!” Ron exclaims.</p><p>“Gethsemane Prickle is a respectable witch, she would never -”</p><p>“Woah,” Harry says, stopping both of them in their argument. “What? You’re not coming!”</p><p>“Of course we are,” Hermione says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.</p><p>“If we can’t stop you, might as well join you,” Ron adds with the same determination. “Did you really think we’d let you go alone?”</p><p>Harry hadn’t even considered the possibility when he decided to tell them. “It’s dangerous!” he bursts, not understanding how the situation has got so out of control. “You’re not Aurors!”</p><p>“As if that has even stopped us when we were in school!” Hermione exclaims. “We went against a Cerberus when we were <em> eleven! </em>”</p><p>“When I think about it now…” Ron shivers. “Merlin, we were out of our mind.”</p><p>Harry knows that he’s losing the argument, but doesn’t know what to say. How can he convince them to not go with him? And why hadn’t he guessed that this would happen? He knows his best friends, of course they would not let him run into danger alone.</p><p>It’s because, as an Auror, he’s used to doing things with a partner, and had thought about this as one of his cases, not one of his adventures. </p><p>“I can’t let you,” he says, but it’s almost a pleading, because deep down he knows there’s no way he’ll be able to convince them. And, of course, he’s right. </p><p>“We’re not giving you a choice, Harry,” Hermione says decidedly. “You said so yourself, it’s dangerous. So we’re coming.”</p><p>“You’re not going to win this mate, give up.”</p><p>Harry feels torn about the whole thing, but in the end he has no choice but to agree. </p><p>He tells them about his intention of writing back to Mortimer and organizing a meeting, a week from now, the first day he and the boy will be in London before traveling for Devon.</p><p>After that, they occupy themselves with washing the dishes and tidying up the room. It’s a blur of activities and conversation, and the subject doesn’t come up again, until Hermione goes to bed and Ron accompanies Harry at the door. </p><p>“You know we won’t leave you alone, right?” he whispers, looking at Harry intently.</p><p> Harry feels like he can’t breathe. <em> Why did it have to happen with my two best friends? </em> he despairs. <em> Can’t I have just one good thing, without everything going always sour?  </em></p><p>The guilt of what he’s not confessing to them still gnaws at him, so with a lump on his throat, he nods to Ron. </p><p>He returns to his home, all the while thinking about how those last two days had made him relive parts of his heart that are, usually, iron-clamped shut.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>It’s only when he’s alone that he lets his mind use the words that really describe what he feels for Hermione and Ron. Not the pretty not-getting-to-the-point sentences like “feeling something more” or “caring much about them”. <em> Caring about them, </em> he thinks now, getting ready to bed. <em> If only it were that easy. </em></p><p>The truth is, unfortunately, that Harry’s in love with them. </p><p>It had taken him a very long time, and more introspection than what he was used to, to realize it. It had taken many wakeful nights, doubting himself and feeling like there was something wrong with him, almost like the piece of Voldemort’s soul had never left him. In those nights, he found peace and sleep only after researching the subject thoroughly, feeling much like Hermione in the process, in order to convince himself that he wasn’t wrong.</p><p>He researched so much that he practically became an expert on the subject of <em> disfit </em>, as it’s called, in the wizarding world, a person who’s in a relationship that is not considered proper, or is the offspring of one. It hadn’t been easy to find sources about it, because the argument is something to never discuss in public. That word is more than an insult, it’s a taboo. Something brushed under the carpet and never brought up.</p><p>He found out that the kinds of relationships that would make someone a ‘disft’ are usually recorded on a list in the Department of Magic Public Information Services, and its content is different for every wizarding community. It’s not considered a crime to be a disfit, at least in many parts of the world, but since it’s not considered <em> proper, </em>wizards and witches have the right to deny that person, if they know them to be a disfit and can prove it, a job, an education, and even a house. Parents can also disown their children without repercussion, and business owner can refuse to serve them.</p><p>Which kind of relationship would label someone a disfit varies in all wizard communities. In England, nowadays, there are only two kinds: the love between more than two people, or between different species.</p><p>He was surprised by the last type because he remembered vividly both Hagrid and professor Flitwick not receiving any judgment when he was in school. They would have been both considered disfit, being born from mixed species parents. But maybe he was wrong about it? The truth is probably that, like many things in his life at Hogwarts, he simply didn’t notice. Maybe Dumbledore’s influence had guaranteed that no one would discriminate them openly. He was probably the one who had helped them get in Hogwarts in the first place. This could especially be the case with Hagrid, considering that he shouldn’t have been allowed at school because he was a half-giant. He just now knew the true implication of it.</p><p>He was tempted, at the time, to ask them the discrimination they and their parents must have faced in their lives. In the end, he decided to not act upon it, mostly because he didn’t want to trouble them with bad memories. Especially when everyone, after the war, was trying to go on and make the most from the world they still lived in.</p><p>Some categories, in that list, had been added and erased in different periods of time. Such as the relationship between muggles and wizards in America, which cycled every 100 years or so. Or between people of the same sex, something that he had guessed from James’ letter, and from his first-hand experience with Dumbledore’s secrecy. </p><p>Those two, nowadays, were widely accepted, but interspecies relationship and relationship with more than two people had always been part of that list, and still remained.</p><p>In the muggle world, when he started searching because the wizarding world was so adamant against it (and in truth also because that research had done nothing to convince him that he wasn’t wrong, had only made it worse) he learned the term <em> polyamory </em> , the desire of a romantic relationship for more than one partner. He also learned the term <em> throuple, </em>for a ‘couple’ of three people, which to this day still makes him laugh by the sheer brilliance of it. </p><p>He searched and searched, looked into his life and traumas more than he ever had before, tried to judge if his feelings tended more towards Hermione or Ron -</p><p>fortunately, he had understood in his fourth year that boys attracted him as much as girls did when his awkward teen self couldn’t stop looking at Cho <em> and </em>Cedric on the night of the Yule Ball, so at least that crisis had been averted  </p><p>- and in the end, he came to the conclusion that he loved both of them of real, true love. That he wasn’t confused by years of neglecting and loss of meaningful connection.</p><p>Which was a disaster, because that made him not only a disfit, but also involved in a big case of unrequited love. For the two most important people in his life. </p><p>However, understanding it has also clarified what he felt the day of the Battle of Hogwarts. The sour sensation that he had had seeing Hermione and Ron kissing in the Room of Requirement. A sensation that, in small doses, had started the year before. That he’d thought at the time was caused by Ginny and Dean’s relationship.</p><p>For years he had not understood why he felt sick every time the two of them acted like a couple. In hindsight, it was obvious that he was jealous, but that first summer he genuinely thought that it was just fear of losing their friendship, mixed with rage at the idea of them abandoning him for good. </p><p>It had taken all that summer, and he acting irrationally around them - so much that one day he screamed at them to go looking to Hermione’s parents in Australia without him, when before they’d make plans for all three to go - before his feelings subsided to something more manageable. He had missed them like crazy when they were away, and that helped him in deciding that he couldn’t lose them.</p><p>His feelings, although subsided, still didn’t make any sense, until one day Hermione, during a lunch break, told him that she and Ron were moving in muggle London, and that if he was interested there was an apartment near the one they were going to buy that it was up for sale.</p><p>He still remembers that day vividly, like it happened yesterday and not five years ago: his immediate reaction was thinking <em> I want to live </em> <b> <em>with </em> </b> <em> you. </em>After years of doubt, he finally realized what that really meant, and how everything had finally fallen into place like it was the most obvious thing in the world.</p><p>He sometimes feels that, when he comes to his relationship with Ron and Hermione, he’d have to have been blind the whole time, to not see how obvious his feelings were since the beginning. </p><p><em> It would have been better to stay blind, </em>he thinks now bitterly, even if he knows that’s a useless wish.  </p><p>Now, on top of everything, he got them caught in this web with James and little Henry, even if it wasn’t his intention to do so. A story wrapped in a mystery, with strange deaths and an unheard-of curse.</p><p><em> Why’s my life always like that? </em>he wonders, not for the first time, feeling like an idiot.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>The next week goes way too fast for Harry. In between organizing the cases he has to leave to his colleagues and deciding what to bring in Devon - the magical community there is very isolated, so much that normal wizard ways to travel are as a rule banned in the county, only a train brings people from London - he has barely the time to write to James in what he hopes is a good way to answer to someone who has opened his heart to a virtual stranger. </p><p>He debates an entire day on what he should write. In the end, he decides to just be honest and say that his letter had made him think of memories of a different time, and made him relieve feelings he thought long buried in him, and that’s why he accepts his request. </p><p>He may not be a Saviour anymore, but sometimes he feels like the moniker is a part of him that will never completely go away.</p><p>He also mentions that his two best friends and war heroes, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, have decided to help them in whatever situation they’re going to face. There’s no time for James to answer his letter, but Harry hopes the man won’t be annoyed by the fact, considering that he’d asked for Harry’s help in particular.</p><p>As their cover story, he, Ron and Hermione decide to tell everyone that they’re going to an undisclosed location for a joint mission between his Department and hers, and Ron’s accompanying them. That they have to maintain the secrecy, so they cannot tell anymore more than that.</p><p>Which is, to some extent, the truth, so Harry doesn’t feel too bad about it.</p><p>He sincerely hopes that he’ll have some alone time with James, because he wants to talk with him about the disfit subject. To finally meet and discuss with someone who understands what he is, the wrongness and fear that he feels every time he thinks about it, would be a huge relief. He’d thought about talking about it with Ron and Hermione in the past, but he knew better than trying: he’s sure that in the end he would have told them the whole truth, and that’s never going to happen.</p><p>The night before meeting James and Henry, he goes to Andromeda and Teddy’s house to have dinner, and to say goodbye to them. Teddy, as usual, doesn’t even let him go through the door: he runs towards him with a big smile on his face and turquoise hair, the look that, in Harry’s opinion, makes him look the most adorable. He can’t help but take him into his arms and spin him around, even if Teddy’s already ten and will be soon too big for Harry to carry, but fortunately there’s still some time before that will happen.</p><p>Andromeda looks at them by the doorway, a smirk on her face, and Harry remembers vividly how the first time he’d seen her, he’d be afraid of her. She resembled, and still does, so much her sister Bellatrix that Harry had at first be wary of her. That time is now long gone, the two having bonded after the war and Teddy, and now he’s pretty sure that Andromeda cares about him as much as she does Teddy, even if she will never be an openly affectionate woman.</p><p>“You’re late,” is what she says to him as soon as Teddy frees him of his grip.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he answers, “had a lot to do at the Ministry. Tomorrow’s the day.”</p><p>“Yes, of the secret mission you’ve told us nothing!” Teddy laments with a put on his face, his hair going towards a bright red. </p><p>“Teddy, behave,” Andromeda admonishes him, but Teddy remains curious during all dinner, often asking Harry questions about what he can share of his mission (which is nothing at all) much to Andromeda’s consternation. She often reminds Teddy that it’s not polite to insist, that the next year he’ll go to Hogwarts - <em> Already? </em> Harry’s mind supplies. <em> Where did all those years go? - </em>and that he better be on his best behavior there.</p><p>After they put Teddy to bed, however, Andromeda returns to the argument. “Your job is not an easy one,” she says, “and I know that better than most. But please, be careful. Teddy’s already lost his parents, and I… I’ve lost Dora to this damned job.”</p><p>Harry’s moved by her words, so much that, in a gesture that he’s sure Andromeda will find distasteful, he goes to hug her. He feels the woman freeze, so he’s careful to make the hug short, but Andromeda’s words have really touched him. </p><p>“I will be,” Harry promises, and he means it.</p><p>“Let’s hope it will be enough,” Andromeda says, gently putting some distance between them, and it’s with the reminder of how much he’s loved - something that he should never take from granted, he admonishes himself - that he returns home.</p><p>The next day, he meets Hermione and Ron in front of King’s Cross. Hermione’s searching something in her extendable-charmed handbag, the one that survived a year searching for Voldemort’s Horcruxes and a battle, and Harry’s hitten with memories of that time, one when the three of them had been against the whole world, but together.</p><p><em> Merlin, how I love them, </em>he thinks looking at them, and goes towards them with a lump on his throat.</p><p>“I feel a sense of déjà vu,” he says to them as a greeting, looking at Hermione’s handbag, and Hermione laughs embracing him.</p><p>“And wait until you’ve seen this,” Ron comments, taking from his pocket Dumbledore’s deluminator, the one who had permitted him to return to them when he’d gone away.</p><p>“Really? What do you need it for?” Harry asks laughing.</p><p>“I’ve heard Devon is a foggy county,” Ron jokes, and Harry, embracing him, can’t help but feel happy, even if he’s not still onboard on the fact that they’re going with him.</p><p>On one hand, he worries. The story is for sure an ominous one, and James seems very worried about his son. On the other, he can’t help but feel happy that the people he loves are here with him, going to another adventure, like ten years had never passed and he was still the Chosen One, but with them by his side.</p><p>When he still didn’t understand how his feelings run deeper, how their friendship would never be enough for him.</p><p>So together, in an almost mirror of ten years ago, they wait for James Mortimer and Henry Baskerville to come, and for their new adventure to begin.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you very much to Invisible_Sarah for her work: she helped me tremendously</p></blockquote></div></div>
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